1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image-forming system for forming an image on an image-forming substrate, coated with a layer of microcapsules filled with dye or ink, by selectively squashing and breaking the microcapsules in the layer of microcapsules. Further, the present invention relates to an image-forming apparatus, which forms an image on the image-forming substrate, used in the image-forming system.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image-forming system per se is known, and uses an image-forming substrate coated with a layer of microcapsules filled with dye or ink, on which an image is formed by selectively squashing and breaking microcapsules in the layer of microcapsules.
For example, in a conventional image-forming system using an image-forming substrate coated with a layer of microcapsules in which a shell of each microcapsule is formed from a photo-setting resin, an optical image is formed as a latent image on the layer of microcapsules by exposing it to light rays in accordance with a series of digital image-pixel signals. Then, the latent image is developed by exerting a pressure on the layer of microcapsules. Namely, the microcapsules, which are not exposed to the light rays, are squashed and broken, whereby dye or ink seeps out of the broken and squashed microcapsules, and thus the latent image is visually developed by the seepage of the dye or ink.
Of course, in this conventional image-forming system, each of the image-forming substrates must be packed so as to be protected from being exposed to light, resulting in wastage of materials. Further, the image-forming substrates must be carefully handled such that they are not subjected to excess pressure due to the softness of unexposed microcapsules, resulting in an undesired seepage of the dye or ink.
Also, a color-image-forming system, using an image-forming substrate coated with a layer of microcapsules filled with different color dyes or inks, is known. In this system, the respective different colors are selectively developed on an image-forming substrate by applying specific temperatures to the layer of color microcapsules. Nevertheless, it is necessary to fix a developed color by irradiation, using a light of a specific wavelength. Accordingly, this color-image-forming system is costly, because an additional irradiation apparatus for the fixing of a developed color is needed, and electric power consumption is increased due to the additional irradiation apparatus. Also, since a heating process for the color development and an irradiation process for the fixing of a developed color must be carried out with respect to each color, this hinders a quick formation of a color image on the color-image-forming substrate.